Swindle Magazine: Muslim Girl Power

Swindle magazine is a “pop culture and lifestyle publication,” that features “luscious fashion spreads, artist profiles or social & political issues around the globe,” according to its website.

Their newest issue (#16, “The London Issue”) looks at Muslim women on London. In “London’s Muslim Girl Power,” written by Naomi Colvin, she explains that, although Muslim women in London are perceived as voiceless and passive, in reality this is a very active group in the community. However, the latter half of her article seemed more geared toward promoting all Muslims as active, rather than just Muslim women. The online article doesn’t give an additional proof of Muslim women’s active role in British society or examples of what Muslim women are doing, which irked me.

The other article pertinent to our attention was Catherine Wagley’s article on British Muslim artist Sarah Maple (pictured below). Maple, who grew up Muslim in the U.K., struggled to find her Islamic identity, and works through it with her art. Her art highlights cultural, religious, and political issues as well: according to the article, Maple won the Saatchi Prize of ₤3,000 with a series of campaign posters that highlighted different identities (I.e., “Vote for me or you’re sexist;” “Vote for me or you’re racist;” “Vote for me or you’re Islamophobic;” etc).

Her painting “Blue, Badges, Burka” is Swindle’s cover image for its latest issue, and more of her work is featured in the magazine and on her website.

Images of Maple’s art from Swindle.

*Editor’s Note: We may come back to Sarah Maple’s artwork in the future, and so we wished to simply highlight her profile in Swindle.